Thanks to everyone for their support during October at a difficult time for Matt and his brothers.

We few back to Philadelphia on Thursday 2nd November and were greeted with the most stunning sunset as we got a cab back to Reg. In the laid-back style of the place that we had left him in, he was waiting for us with his keys on his windscreen… bit of a culture shock after having been home for a month where we have two locks just get into our flat after the security door! Anyway, no one had driven off with him and we were incredibly grateful to the site for having stored him for October.

We went that night for a pizza and a beer to just get back into the swing of things and discovered that once again no one could understand us as we must have become very British again having been home. It was very comforting to be back in the land of junk food, very friendly wait staff and we had a huge pizza (shared) and some beers whilst we were bombarded by TV’s showing sport. Everyone ups and leaves at 9pm, as we did, so we were well and truly back into the US lifestyle.

Next day we had to reequip Reg with food and fuel for our trip to Gettysburg. Again, we attracted a lot of hilarity in a deli that we stopped in for breakfast. The ladies behind the counter were asking me all about the Royal Family (luckily, I know a bit thanks to Mummy) and when I declared Prince Charles to be an ‘arse’ – they kept asking me to say it over and over again as they thought it was funny to elongate the ‘r’ sound as opposed to their ass!

After all that, we drove south west across Pennsylvania and arrived at Gettysburg just before twilight. This meant we could go to the Visitors Centre and orientate ourselves. Except that it was closed but a volunteer outside gave us a map and we went to the National Cemetery where Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address from.

For those that do not know (myself included until last week!) the Address was not a battle cry at all. I think many of us assume it was. Instead the battle had already taken place – three days in July 1863 – 1st to 3rd July between the Union and Confederate forces. The Address were some remarks by Lincoln at the dedication of the cemetery as there were so many bodies at the end of the battle. There had been a campaign to bury the 20,000 plus dead properly and the land had been bought from a farmer and the idea of a national cemetery agreed as a fitting tribute to men who had died in the war. The governor of Pennsylvania spoke first – for two hours (can you imagine listening to that!) and then Lincoln stood up and gave his Address which was under two minutes. It turned out to be one of the greatest speeches ever given.

On Saturday we went to the Visitor Centre which was now open and watched a great film about the battle and then went up to the Cyclorama which is a huge painting done in the 1890’s of the battle. It shows the last desperate day when the Confederates under Robert E Lee were basically marched into the Union guns and unsurprisingly defeated and ended up fleeing the scene. The painting is a masterpiece – completely huge – a bit like the IMAX at Waterloo, and they narrate over the top with sound effects to make it a very real experience.

That afternoon we then got on the Thompsons and cycled around the historic drive which is all over the battlefield. The landscape and atmosphere was very evocative and you could understand how the whole battle rested on who had the higher ground (the Union) and what it must have felt like for those three days.

Like Vicksburg which we went to about this time last year it is always interesting to see all the different memorials and plaques to the soldiers from different states and then watching people from nowadays find their state troops or even in some cases relatives on the memorials. The Civil War is still the biggest loss of US life in a combat situation despite all that has come since. Staggering figures.

After Gettysburg we decided to stay south and west and head for Shenandoah National Park. This is something that we would have done with Mummy and Nick if they had come, it was well worth it.

The park is on the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains and has a road called the Skyline Drive which runs 115 or so miles of it. We started off in bright sunshine and the leaves were amazing – still very colourful – yellow, bright reds and of course lots of golden browns. All good, busy as this is quite close to Washington DC so I am sure many people come for the day.

Completely unexpectedly we found ourselves in low cloud and the visibility fell to literally a couple of metres in front of us. Some drivers coped well, others not so well but for the rest of the afternoon we either had great views of the Virginian countryside either side of the ridge or just damp and cold with red taillights in front. Reg just got on with it although pity the people behind him as we had to all go at 45mph and overtaking was not an option.

Since we have been back we have tried to be very stoic and British about the weather and how annoying it has been – and thinking back last Sunday was the start of it. Clearly now we are in winter. The clocks have changed here too and it is very chilly at night. We have heating in Reg which we have been utilizing to the full. We are no longer getting up and thinking of shorts and t-shirts sadly!

So even though the weather had interfered with the Skyline Drive we had seen enough and had a walk half way along to get the sense of it. I was struck again by my silliest observation from the whole trip – which is that there are an awful lot of trees in America. (I won’t be winning any prizes for being profound!).

On Monday we then set off for the Blue Ridge Parkway which is a similar thing – a National Park road that would take us on the crest of the mountains all the way to North Carolina – a sort of Appalachian Way for vehicles. Lovely and sunny up until lunchtime – we were amazed by it. Then we drove into the low cloud and did not really emerge again until Wednesday!

Abandoning plans to complete the Blue Ridge Parkway after Tuesday lunchtime because of the weather we decided to get to Asheville where we needed to do some Reg related errands and hope that things cheered up. Sadly, they did not and it was pretty miserable – drizzle, torrential rain, fog, cold and low cloud.

So, the whole purpose of an RV is to take off, so that is what we did – to Charleston which is in South Carolina and always intended to be the most southerly point on this leg of our trip. We hammered down the freeway and got to the site in pouring rain but trusted the weatherman who said things would improve from Friday onwards. And they did.

Friday was lovely and sunny and so much warmer than we have been used to of late. We set off into Charleston and did the best walking tour of our trip so far. For two hours Erica showed us the sights of the city and told us some very funny stories.

Charleston is a very pretty place and there are lots of antebellum mansions and clearly before the Civil War when it was the fourth largest city in the US and maybe even the wealthiest at some time before that, the great and the good had invested on the peninsula with the Ashley and Cooper Rivers either side. The houses still belong to old money and the town is amazingly well preserved (second only to Rome apparently) for not allowing development or any crass commercial activity or height in the old centre.

However, all of this comes at a price. It was the centre of the domestic slave trade and has a very shameful past. We went on Sunday to the Slave Museum and read the ghoulish stories of how humans have treated one another. Matt was surprised and embarrassed to discover that a former Governor of the Bank of England was a serious slave trader in the 1720’s with eight ships transporting human misery across the Atlantic. All his ships were named after his wife and daughters. Hmm… what a lovely touch…not.

We had a good time in Charleston and had a tasty dinner on the Friday night and saw the locals out and about. Everyone is very friendly in the traditional southern way and a lot of ‘y’all’s’ have been spoken, not by us just yet.

So, our first week back has ended and we have loved being back in Reg. We have been slightly frustrated by the weather but thrilled to be back in this lovely place where the people are so genuinely friendly, the history is staggering (sadly quite often rather horrific) and it has given us the opportunity to reflect on the last month – so not a bad return all in all.